FILE – Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system fires interceptors at rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel. Thursday, May 11, 2023. Since Israel activated the Iron Dome in 2011, the cutting-edge rocket-defense system has intercepted thousands of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. By Israeli military estimates, Hamas has already fired 7,000 rockets into Israel during the current war. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Arkansas is expanding its efforts to defend the United States and its allies, including Israel, through a new manufacturing facility coming to East Camden.
“The world is a lot more dangerous than it used to be,” Sanders said Thursday. “Our enemies are on the march, and they have their targets set squarely on the backs of Americans and our allies.”
The new $33 million manufacturing facility being built by Raytheon Rafael will manufacture missiles to be used in the Iron Dome defense system used by Israel, as well as in U.S. missile defense systems.
“It has never been more clear or more urgent that America needs to reinvest in its defense and there has never been a state more willing or more capable to step up and answer the call than Arkansas,” Sanders said.
RTX Government Relations Director Jeff Shockley said the governor convinced them that Arkansas was the ideal place for the new facility.
“She convinced us that Arkansas was the right place for this project, this investment and these new jobs for Arkansans,” he said.
State and company officials said at least 30 new jobs are tied to this expansion.
A Raytheon representative said production at the new facility is expected to start in 2025.
